Combining information in her book with interviews Wilson-Raybould has given with the release of ‘Indian’ in the Cabinet: Speaking Truth to Power this week, it sounds like something out of the old Soviet Union.
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Absent the actual, physical elimination of Liberals judged insufficiently loyal to Trudeau and their unelected political masters in the PMO, that is.
Wilson-Raybould describes a PMO where cabinet ministers aren’t even trusted to talk to each other, without political minders appointed by the leader’s office present, a common feature of communist regimes.
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A PMO where senior cabinet ministers are denied direct access to Trudeau, bossed around by unelected political appointees, unable even to hire their own senior staff, without direction from the PMO.
Wilson-Raybould says cabinet ministers were advised not to put anything in writing — reminiscent of the Ontario gas plants scandal that enveloped the Liberal government of then premier Dalton McGuinty.
She says they were also advised to conduct sensitive discussions by phone, presumably so there would be no written record of what transpired.
Liberal MPs considered the greatest possible political sin to be perceived as having been disloyal to Trudeau, even when defending an important point of principle, such as prosecutorial independence, as occurred in her case.
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(Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott — the only Liberal cabinet minister who resigned her position to protest Wilson-Raybould’s treatment by the PMO during the SNC-Lavalin scandal — were tossed out of the party by Trudeau.)
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Trudeau is described by Wilson-Raybould as superficially charming and convivial in casual conversation, but petulant, resentful and angry when he doesn’t get his way.
To be clear, the increasing centralization of power in the Prime Minister’s Office is nothing new on Parliament Hull.
That doesn’t change the fact that the increasing disdain the PMO has for elected MPs — including those elevated to cabinet posts — is a growing threat to both democracy and responsible government.
